Sheet handling cylinder



July 17, 1962 R. K. NORTON 3,044,771

SHEET HANDLING CYLINDER Y Filed April 18, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. #056??? K. A/affa/v E/m My July 17, 1962 R. K. NORTON SHEET HANDLING CYLINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 18, 1960 INVENTOR. Roi??? K n/oxaro/v AZ'ZORNEY tats This invention relates generally to rotary sheet fed printing presses, and particularly to means for registering and/ or gripping sheets on a tympan or impression cylinder of a rotary printing press.

The principal object of this invention is to provide for attachment of a sheet member to a cylinder without dis turbing the setting of other means on the cylinder whenever the sheet member is installed or removed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel means for feeding sheets to gauge pins on a feed cylinder having a longitudinal slit closely adjacent, but spaced rearwardly from the gauge pins in the direction of cylinder rotation.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

According to one aspect of the invention, one or more tympan sheets are wrapped about the surface of a cylinder with one end of each sheet extending into a slit defined by the leading edge of the cylinders surface and one side of a gripper post bar having a plurality of registering gauge pins thereon. Sheets of paper or other material to be printed or otherwise handled are fed into engagement with the cylinder and are then urged into register by being overdriven against the gauge pins. Since the slit into which one end of each tympan sheet is inserted presents a stumbling block or obstacle for the leading edge of a sheet to be registered, the cylinder and the sheet feeding or conveying means are to timed and driven and the sheet is so directed that it first engages the cylinder directly on the surface of the gripper post bar and consequently cannot stumble over the obstruction formed by the slit, since it will have spanned the slit. Another aspect of the invention includes the independency of the gripper post bar and the usual clamps for fasting the tympan sheet or sheets in the slit, preferably so that installation or removal of a tympan sheet has no efiect on the contact height of the gripper posts or on the front-to-back adjustment of the gauge pins, even though, in the preferred form of the invention, the bar may be located between the slit and the mounting for the tympan clamps.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, illustrating a preferred form of means for feeding sheets to a printing press cylinder.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of gripper and tympan sheet clamping means of the invention, and is taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view taken substantially along line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, a sheet S is fed along a feed table by means such as conventional continuous tapes (not shown). As a sheet reaches the forward end of the feed table 10, it is arrested temporarily at its front edge by a plurality of front stops 11 having sheet engaging portions 12 which move into the line of sheet travel in a conventional manner to intercept and front register LJI the sheets one at a time. After a sheet is front registered, side guiding means such as rollers 13 and 14 pinch the sheet and frictionally drive it against a side gauge 37 to register the sheet along one side. While the sheet is in the grip of the rollers 13 and 14 and against portions 12 of the front stops 11, it is pinched or gripped by a plurality of feed rolls 15 and 16 which may be of any type, but which are shown herein as being segmental upper feed rolls 15 on a fixed shaft 17 and lower movable or idler feed rollers 16 mounted on arms 18 for pivotal movement with a shaft 38. The lower feed rollers 16 move into engagement with the bottom side of the sheet S to frictionally grip it against the driving periphery of the upper feed rolls 15. At this time, the shaft 17 on which the feed rolls 15 are mounted is stationary. Once the sheet 8 has been properly gripped, the front stops 11 are raised to the position shown in the drawings and the side guiding rollers 13 and 14 are separated to release the sheet. The shaft 17 is then driven by any conventional drive mechanism in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1 to feed the sheet S toward the surface of a cylinder 19, which is illustrated in the drawings as being a feed-in cylinder of a rotary printing press.

The cylinder 19 has mounted on its periphery one or more tympan sheets 20, which in the illustrated form of the invention, comprises an impression surface which cooperates with a shallow relief plate 21 on a plate cylinder 22 to print a sheet S therebetween under pressure. The printing pressure is determined by several factors, such as thickness and compressibility of the stock to be printed, the particular type of image, etc. For purposes of this disclosure, only one tympan sheet 20 is shown, it being obvious that more sheets may be used if found necessary for a given printing job. The end of the tympan sheet 20 adjacent the leading edge of the peripheral surface of the cylinder 19 is inserted into a slit 23 defined by a portion 24 of the cylinder 19 and a gripper post bar 25 fastened to a machined face of the cylinder 19 in its gap. The bar 25 has carried thereby a plurality of conventional gauge pins 26 against which the sheet S is crowded and finally front registered in a known manner. After the sheet has been registered against the gauge pins, it is gripped by the tips of gripper fingers 27 against the outer surface of the gripper post bar 25, and is carried through the print line between the cylinders19 and 22. After having been printed the sheet may be transferred to gripper fingers of a delivery conveyor or to grippers of a transfer cylinder for subsequent transfer to additional printing units as in the case of a multicolor press. The tympan sheet 20 has that end which is inserted into the slit 23 clamped thereto by tympan clamps 28, a plurality of which are mounted on a shaft 29 in the gap of the cylinder 19. The opposite end of the tympan sheet is inserted into a slot in a reel 39 which is mounted at the opposite end of the cylinder gap. When more than one tympan sheet is used, only the top draw-sheet will normally be inserted into the slot, the others being cut short at the gap. The reel 30 is rotated to draw the tympan sheet tightly to the surface of the cylinder 19 and is held against reverse rotation in that position.

In order to enable passage of the tympan clamps 28 through the gripper post bar 25, the bar 25 is notched as shown in several instances at 31 in FIG. 3. The shaft 29 which carries the tympan clamps 28 is mounted to pivot r between posts to either release the end of the tympan sheet 20, or to clamp it tightly thereto by means of a clamping force provided by a plurality of set screws 32. The set screws 32 are carried by brackets 33 fixed to the shaft 29 and are operated as jackscrews to cause serrated gripping portions of the tympan clamps 28 to tightly grip the end of the tympan sheet which is inserted into the slit 23. Each tympan clamp 28 is fastened to the shaft 29 by means of a clamping screw '34, which, when loosened, enables adjustment of the clamp 28 around and along the shaft.

The gripper post bar is fastened to the machined face on the cylinder 19 by means of screws which pass through radially extending slots in the gripper bar. The slots enable radial adjustment of the gripper post bar 25 to position its gripping surface at the desired height which normally corresponds to the outer surface of the tympan sheet 20. The gauge pins 26 on the bar 25 are fastened against machined faces and ledges of the bar at desired intervals as is best illustrated in FIG. 3. They may be adjusted forward and back in the conventional manner to provide either a straight line across the faces of the gauge pins 26 or a slightly curved line if it is desired to bow the sheets on subsequent passes through the press for register purposes.

The gripper fingers '27 are mounted on a gripper shaft 36 which is operated to open and close the grippers at the proper times during each revolution by the usual actuating means (not shown). It will be noted from the foregoing description of the structure, that removal or installation of a tympan sheet 29 by loosening the tympan clamps 28 will not disturb the height setting of the gripper post bar 25 nor the setting of the registering gauge pins 26. In this manner, I may effect a replacement of the tympan sheet without having to readjust other precise settings each time a new tympan sheet is installed. It will also be noted that I have provided means for feeding the sheets S to the cylinder 19 in a manner such that its first engagement with the cylinder is directly onto the surface of the gripper post bar 25 and not onto the surface of the tympan sheet 20. In this manner I avoid any possibility of stumbling of the sheet S on the obstruction which is formed by the slit 23 which receives an end of the tympan sheet 20.

It will be noted also that the leading edge of the feed table 10 is angled slightly upwardly where it approaches the surface of the cylinder. This enables obtaining the proper angle of feeding to the surface of the gripper post bar without considerable redesign or relocating of the conventional feed rolland front registering mechanism.

While I have shown my invention as being embodied in a rotary relief type printing press in which the cylinder 19 comprises a tympan cylinder carrying a tympan sheet, it is obvious that any flexible sheet-like member may be mounted on the cylinder 19 in the narrow slit near the gripping line of the gripping fingers 27. It is also obvious that feeding or conveying means other than the feed rolls 15 and 16 may perform the function performed by such rolls.

It should be noted also that the particular type of clamps, gripper fingers and gripper post bar illustrated may be utilized on a cylinder other than one having gauge pins, and still perform the desirable result of enabling clamping of a sheet by the clamps without disturbing the setting of the contact height of the gripper post bar.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

'1. In a sheet handling device, a generally horizontal feed table along which sheets are fed, means for temporarily arresting and registering each sheet in turn at a forward end of the table, a rotatable cylinder adjacent the forward end of the table and occupying a position in which the forward end of the table closely approaches the cylinder at an acute angle, said cylinder having an operative peripheral surface with a gap therein, a gripper post bar secured to the cylinder in the gap at a trailing end thereof, said bar having its gripping surface generally coinciding with the cylinders surface, a plurality of gauge pins mounted on the gripper bar, means conveying registered sheets one at a time against the gauge pins at a speed greater than cylinder speed at the time each sheet arrives at the gauge pins, gripper fingers mounted in the gap and adapted to cooperate with the gripping surface of the gripper post bar to grip sheets when registered against the gauge pins, said cylinder surface being provided with an inwardly extending longitudinal slit between the gripper post bar and the portion of the cylinder to which it is attached, said slit being adapted to receive a thin, flexible sheet member for covering the periphery of said cylinder with one end thereof inserted into said slit, and means securing both ends of the sheet member to the cylinder, the securing means for that end of the sheet member extending into said slit being supported in the gap independently of the gripper post bar on that side of the bar remote from the slit and passing through relieved portions of the bar.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein the relieved portions of the bar comprise spaced notches along the outer edge of the bar.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein the gripper post bar is mounted for radial adjustment relative to the cylinder, and means for radially adjusting said bar.

4. The invention according to claim 3 wherein the relieved portions of the bar are notched to a depth sutficient to allow for the radial adjustment of the bar within predetermined limits.

5. In a sheet handling device, a rotatable sheet trans porting cylinder having a gap in its'periphery, a gripper post bar secured to the cylinder in the gap at a trailing end thereof, said bar having a gripping surface slightly above the cylinders surface, a plurality of gripper fingers mounted in the cylinder gap and adapted to cooperate with the gripping surface of the gripper post bar to grip the leading edge of each sheet, said cylinder surface being provided with an inwardly extending longitudinal slit between the gripper post bar and the portion of the cylinder to which it is attached, said slit being adapted to receive a thin, fiexible sheet member for covering the periphery of said cylinder with one end thereof inserted into said slit, and means securing both ends of the sheet member to the cylinder, the securing means for the end of the sheet member extending into said slit being supported in the gap independently of the gripper post bar on that side of the bar remote from the slit, said bar having portions thereof relieved for passage therethrough of the securing means.

6. The invention set forth in claim 5 wherein the relieved portions of the bar comprise spaced notches along the outer edge of the bar.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6 wherein the notches are of a depth suflicient to allow for radial adjustment of the bar within predetermined limits, and means for adjusting the bar radially relative to the cylinder.

8. In a sheet handling device, a generally horizontal feed table along which sheets are fed, means for temporarily arresting and registering each sheet in turn at a forward end of the table, a rotatable cylinder closely adjacent the forward end of the table and occupying a position in which the forward end of the table closely approaches the cylinder at an acute angle, a gripper post bar mounted in a gap in said cylinder and defining one side of an inwardly extending longitudinal slit with said cylinder, a plurality of gauge pins mounted on said gripper post bar, means conveying registered sheets one at a time to the cylinder and against the gauge pins at a speed greater than cylinder speed at the time a given sheet arrives at the gauge pins, gripper fingers carried by the cylinder for gripping the sheet against the gripper post bar when the sheet is registered against the gauge pins, said slit being located on that side of the gripper post bar opposite the direction of rotation of the cylinder and being adapted to receive an end of a thin, flexible sheet member for covering the periphery of said cylinder, and means for securing the end of the flexible sheet member in the slit, said securing means being supported on that side of the gripper post bar remote from the slit and said bar being notched to permit passage therethrough of the securing means, said cylinder and said conveying means being so timed and driven and the leading edge of said table so approaching the cylinder as to direct each sheet to the cylinder with its leading edge first contacting the cylinder on the gripper post bar as it is conveyed against the gauge pins.

6 9 9. The invention set forth in claim 8 wherein the grip per post bar is mounted for radial adjustment relative to the cylinder, and means for radially adjusting said bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS David-son May 1, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,044,771

Robert K. Norton July 17 1962 It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered petthat the said Letters Patent should read as ent requiring porrection and corrected below.

Column 1, line 37, for "to" read so column 2,

line 65, for "posts" read positions Signed and sealed this 4th day .of December 1962.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents 

